Truth be told, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of interface, but the Pharmaceutical models do offer a bit more customization in terms of settings. The Home Pro models however get the job done just as well and have bigger capacity for the money.
I routed the exhaust from the catch can to a home made catch can that consisted of a jar with two ports with steel wool inside. I wanted to see just how much oil would escape the newly install catch can and collect in the jar.
I’d recommend that anyone stick with buying any freeze-dryer or heavy equipment directly from the manufacturer. And if you’re ready to shop for a Harvest Right, you can use this link to shop current sales.
There are many different commercial appliances available, all of which are especially designed for your specific needs. Here are a handful of the various subcategories of commercial appliances that you can get.
And therein lies the cons to buying a freeze dryer. It takes time to make them cost effective. Depending on humidity in your area, a single run can take up to two days to complete.
Of course, if someone used a larger can, say a #10, that is bigger than the top of the container that surrounds the filter and captures the oil, then the "disk" wouldn't be needed at all. In that case, an AN8 fitting might work -- or maybe there are longer ones out there somewhere.
Whichever freeze dryer model you choose, be sure you’re getting it from a trustworthy source. The only place where you’re guaranteed complete satisfaction is the manufacturer’s store or their website, so that’s where I’d buy if it were up to me.
I'm actually working now on making myself a vacuum microwave instead. Got the idea from an article in MacLeans magazine about Domenic and Cindy Duby, who use one to produce interesting flavours. Takes up less space and hopefully produces a product a bit faster. We'll see how it works out.
The evaporator coils that touch the surface of the stainless steel vacuum chamber reach about -42 F. With food in the chamber and because the location of the thermister is on the middle shelf of the Buy Now four shelves, the temperature it records is going to range from -25 to -30 F in the 9 hour default freeze time. This temperature is very adequate for freeze drying the food.
While I had the unit apart to replace the display I decided to correct the water condensation problem. If you find yourself using your FDer in the same conditons as we do you may want to consider modifying your FDer to keep the condensation from your FDer control circuit and display cards. Here are the steps that I followed to minimize what the NC high humidity climate does to my FDer.
Harvest Right’s large Pharmaceutical is the solventless’s industry standard freeze dryer for a reason: they’re affordable, can dry a lot of hash in 24 hours, and are easy to set up. We sell more of them than just about anyone else in the industry to hash makers everywhere.
Harvest Right Freeze Dryers preserve food that looks and tastes better than store-bought freeze-dried food and at a total cost that is thousands less.
I love that the small freeze dryer can be placed on a kitchen counter. Having it in the kitchen makes it convenient and always ready to start the freeze-drying process.
Without an pump isolation valve I would expect some air to flow back into the chamber through the pump resulting in the steady rise you witnessed. I saw the same phenomenon before I installed an isolation valve on my pump.